How to remove Virus from USB Drives

One of the ways by which a virus can infect your PC is through USB/Pen drives. Common viruses such as ’Ravmon’ , ‘New Folder.exe’, ‘Orkut is banned’ etc are spreading through USB drives. Most anti virus programs are unable to detect them and even if they do, in most cases they are unable to delete the file, only quarantine it. Here are the things which you can do if you want to remove such viruses from your USB Drive

Whenever you plug a USB drive in your system, a window will appear similar to the one shown below

Don’t click on Ok , just choose ‘Cancel’. Open the Command Prompt by typing ‘cmd‘ in the run box. In the command prompt type the drive letter: and press enter . Now type dir /w/a and press enter.

This will display a list of the files in the pen drive. Check whether the following files are there or not

• Autorun.inf
• Ravmon.exe
• New Folder.exe
• svchost.exe
• Heap41a
• or any other exe file which may be suspicious.

If any of the above files are there, then probably the USB drive is infected. In command prompt type attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and press enter. This will remove the Read Only, Archive, System and hidden file attribute from all the files. Now just delete the files using the command del filename. example del Ravmon.exe. Delete all the files that are suspicious. To be on a safer side, just scan the USB drive with an anti virus program to check whether it is free of virus or not. Now remove the drive and plug it again. In most of the cases, the real culprit turns out to be the “Autorun.inf” file which mostly gets executed when someone clicks Ok in the dialog window which appears above. Thus the infections can spread

Security Tip

Disable the Autoplay feature of USB drives. If you disable the Autoplay feature of USB drives, then there are lesser chances of the virus spreading. A tool which can perform such a function is Tweak UI. Download it from here install it.

Run the program. Now you can disable the Autoplay feature of the removable drives as shown above. By following the above steps, you can keep your USB drives clean.

Update: Tweak UI is a freeware software you can download it here: http://www.filehippo.com/download_tweakui/

How To Disable Windows Genuine Advantage Notification in 3 Simple Steps

Following three simple steps now you can get rid of the pesky and sometimes buggy Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications:

1. Reboot Windows in safe mode (hold the f8 key while booting and you will get the option to boot in safe mode) and then:

2. Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and search for wgalogon folder and delete it. You should backup up the registry beforehand, in case somethiong goes wrong.

3. In your windows directory search for files wga* and delete them.

You are done!

Now reboot back normally and continue your work. Windows Genuine Advantage will not bother you anymore.

Warning: Use at your own risk. Backup everything before you do.

Download Multiple Free Files From Rapidshare

Rapidshare allows to download only a single file at a time with free account. If you want to download multiple files at the same time, you need to buy a premium account but now you can download multiple files from Rapidshare free account without paying anything with RapidShare Download Accelerator.




With RapidShare Download Accelerator, you can add all the files you'd like to download, and it will do all the annoying work for you. Now you can just sit back and watch your files download without paying a dime.

Links : Download Rapidshare Download Accelerator

Speed Up SATA Hard Drives & USB Drives In Windows Vista

Window Vista has built in support for SATA and external drives, but they seem to be slow because the advanced write cache features aren’t automatically activated. With just few steps you can enable them and get a much faster response.

First you need to go to the Device Manager which you can go directly by just typing device in the start menu search box or just type in devmgmt.msc in command line.

Now open the Disk drives section and right click on your hard drive. Now click on the Policies tab and you’ll find this dialog box:



Now click the checkbox for Enable advanced performance, and you are done.



Write caching isn’t enabled by default as removing devices directly without using the “Safely remove removable device”may lose your data, so be cautious when enabling this options. But enabling this option also when speeding up performance significantly when writing to the disk.



Now select the external drive and double click it to open up the properties screen. Then
just change the setting to “Optimize for performance” and hit OK to continue. You’ll have to reboot for all the settings to take effect. Next time you boot into Windows Vista you’ll see faster bootup times and better disk writing performance.

Show Hidden Files and Folders not working?

Show Hidden Files and Folders not working?..... If we selecte the radio button “Show hidden files and folders” and then press Ok.. the changes would just disappear upon opening the dialog again. It was probably some virus attack after which the Windows registry was not being updated properly. So here is what methods to restore it back. There are so many methods to restore back the registry. If one method is not working, please try another one.

Method 1:

Go to registry editor by running regedit in the run box.
Go to this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

In the right hand area, double click hidden and change the value to 1.

Now you’re all set to go. Check it in your tools menu if the changes have taken effect.

Method 2:

1. Click “Start” -> “Run…” (or press Windows key + R)
2. Type “regedit” and click “Ok”.
3. Find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\
Advanced\Folder\Hidden\SHOWALL
4. Look at the “CheckedValue” key… This should be a DWORD key. If it isn’t, delete the key.
5. Create a new key called “CheckedValue” as a DWORD (hexadecimal) with a value of 1.
6. The “Show hidden files & folders” check box should now work normally. Enjoy!

Method 3:

1- Click Start –> Run –> regsvr32 /i browseui.dll –> enter

A confirmation message will appear like given below

2- Click Start –> Run –> regsvr32 /i shell32.dll

Wait for the confirmation and click OK.

regsvr32-shell.dll.png

Method 4:

If none of the above methods work, please download our Smart Virus Remover from here:

Smart Virus Remover (652.8 KiB, 346,268 hits)

Using this Virus Remover please restore your Windows settings and your show hidden files and folders will be set to default.

Please spare a few moments from your precious time and tell us about your experiences.

LG To Launch New Windows Mobile 6.5 Phones

LG Electronics will be launching three new smartphones in the next few weeks that run on Windows software. They will be the first LG phones to feature the new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system (OS) from Microsoft. Microsoft is hoping its Windows Mobile operating system can continue to challenge Symbian, a platform backed by Nokia and used in two-thirds of smartphones, reports Reuters.

Nokia's Booklet 3G Too Expensive For A Netbook!

Netbooks or mini notebook devices are best known for their low cost; the majority of them are being offered at a sub $500 today. Besides, they are also low in weight. The new Nokia Booklet 3G netbook, featuring mobile broadband, a 12-hour battery, A-GPS support, sleek aluminum chassis and 10-inch glass HD ready display, may also seem like an attractive option. However, its steep $816 (Rs 40,000 approx.) price tag could drive customers away

Nokia last month announced its first netbook (would you still call it a netbook), the Nokia Booklet 3G, that will use Microsoft's Windows operating system. Powered by Intel's Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet 3G weighs 1.25 kilograms, measures slightly more than two centimetres thin, and offers 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD and a broad range of connectivity options -- including 3G/HSPA and Wi-Fi.

Analysts say the Booklet 3G is too high for the general market.

Obviously, consumers have taken to netbooks in a big way, and they may fall in love with the look of the Booklet 3G. But when they see the Nokia's price tag, they'll opt for a more pedestrian Acer, Asus, HP or Samsung netbook, all of which are priced between $350 and $500, says PC World.

It also says, "Naturally, wireless carrier subsidises will whittle down the Booklet's price, but Nokia's netbook will likely still cost more than competing mini-notes. Even if it runs $400 to $500 with a two-year mobile broadband contact, other subsidised portables will go for less than $200. In fact, some carriers like Verizon have begun offering free netbooks to new subscribers."

Nokia may have to make significant changes to the Booklet 3G functionality, or the price, or both, to make a dent in the netbook market.